Friday, July 11, 2014

Horseback Riding

Grant wants to be a cowboy.  So for his birthday my parent's got him boots and an appointment at a local stable.  Let me just say the stable did a wonderful job with the kids.  They learned how to approach a horse, how to groom, saddle and then they got to ride for 45 minutes.  
Grant rode Mick.  Mick is 36 years old and wasn't going anywhere fast, but that was just the right pace for G! The owner said that Mick still has a gift to give and that is taking it slow with the little ones! You did good Mick!
Elizabeth rode Moon.  A little younger, Moon is only 30.
Grant was informed that if you can't carry the saddle you aren't old enough to ride (that was told to him right after he dropped it - oopps!) The reins were a lighter load.


Grant had a hard time getting Mick to trot for him because he wasn't sitting back in the saddle.  Once he did Mick took off and Grant's body starting to fall forward - it was hilarious to watch, but Mick could sense Grant's body falling and he stopped - such a good horse!




Walking the horses back in 
At one point she tried to get the kids to play Simon Says.  "Simon says touch your helmet.  Simon says point to the sky"  Grant finally said "I can't!" He was afraid to let go.  Also one of the reasons Mick maybe didn't go too fast, I think he was holding the reins pretty tight!

The kids had a great time.  Grant fell asleep hard on the way home!  We still talk about Mick and Moon.  I think we may be going back!

Lincoln Douglas

I know this blog is about the kids but this post is for the kids...so they can remember what mommy did in her free time.  The Lincoln Douglas is a road race in Metamora.  It was my first run I ever did last year and this year my dad and I did it again.  
Here we are with the Lincolns.   
Here is dad's trophy!
Here is mine!
I guess we will have to run again next year to defend our titles!  We each placed 2nd in our age categories.  Thank you for not asking how many people were actually in our age categories! Thanks for a great run Dad!  It was my fastest - he is pretty fast 60 year old! Great job Pops! Love you!

Cousin Lovin

When the cousins are in town it is all about togetherness!  We played hard and crashed hard.  Here are some of the things we did...
You have to had a lot of fun the night before to wake up with crazy hair like this! 
They have to sit as close as they can to each other! 
Briggs was the lucky one! 
Farm Park
Auntie Amber taught the lesson for the day.  I think Pops had to sit in the corner with the dunce hat!


The girls painted G's nails
Lots  of sleepovers!  
Dance Camp for the girls
Fishing with Pops!

We all caught one at the same time!
Love the knee pop Eb!
Mommy isn't a fan of taking the fish off the hook, but I did bait the hook - reluctantly.
I don't even think he has a rod in his hands.  But this was his favorite spot to sit.
Got to have our morning juice :)

Stella and Grant did a week of swim lessons too.  Amber and I did lots of crafting (cameo style!) and had a very nice big girls day with mani, pedis and lunch (thank you!).  I knew the two weeks would go by too fast and they did.  Cousins are something special and these four are no exception!

St.Louis

Wow, how did I get so behind! I just found 90 blog worthy pictures on my phone! We will see how far this marathon catching session goes! First on the docket...St.Loius.

Amber and fam flew into St. Louis on a Wednesday night (kind of Thursday morning!).  Kenny took Elizabeth and Grant down Thursday morning and B and I drove down after he finished working.  The kids did the Magic House on Thursday (Amber has all of those pictures).  The kids are still taking about the sand castle exhibit!

Friday we did the zoo and packed a picnic.  Actually we ended up having the picnic before we even went into the zoo.  It was a beautiful day and we did a side of the zoo that I don't remember getting to last time so it all seemed new.  The kids love being together and always have so much fun.  The highlight this year was getting to pet the stingrays. We attempted Food Truck Friday at Tower Grove Park, but this event was much more popular than we thought it would be so we found a restaurant on The Hill.  Grant acted funny during dinner and didn't really eat and looked a little off.  I took his "my tummy hurts" more serious than usual.  He ended up having severe stomach pains and we had a very interesting ride back to the hotel.  Trying to converse with the on-call nurse with four kids and a sarcastic husband was challenging!  He ended up throwing up in the parking garage, went to straight to bed and woke up fine the next day.  All's well that ends well right!

An azure butterfly (I know this because we read Fancy Nancy!) landed on Elizabeth's arm as soon as we walked into the butterfly garden.  You can kind of see it in flight between her skirt and shoes. I couldn't get the picture fast enough, but it was really cool!
I followed and I snapped a good pic!
 I have a lot of pictures of the back of the kids at the zoo.  Always looking at something!

Measuring each other.  I love his little face!
Yes, Elizabeth, you are the tallest! 
Stingrays
Love the carousel! 
Saturday we did Grant's Farm and took in a baseball game.  We ate lunch at Steve's, a hot dog restaurant on The Hill.  Auntie Amber was looking out for Grant's best interest.  I think he was a bit intimidated by the size of his hot dog!!
2 out of 4 looking at the camera isn't bad!
Such beautiful horses! 
These two are gonna be buddies!

Uncle B is smitten over this one! 
Pops and the grand babies  
The goats are my favorite!  Each time it gets better and better as the kids get older.  
Grant is very fair and equitable and wants to give all the goats a little milk - the goats do not love having a bottle taken from them that still has milk!

Elizabeth is just in love with all of them, but sought out this little one in particular.  She named it and would have taken it home! 
She still says she wants to be a vet.  Just the other day she said being a vet would be easier than being a teacher because teachers have to change all that stuff (referring to the bulletin boards!)
She loves fake animals too!  I am sure there weren't too many germs on that mane!
Grant feeding the camel 
At the game
Pops teaching the boys the finer details of baseball! 
Game gear pic!
The HOT DOG!
When we sat down the sun was not in our eyes and we thought "boy are we lucky"....20 minutes later the sun found us!
They requested a picture in front of the fountain at the hotel.  

We had a great weekend and made great memories.  I thought of Mimi several times.  Last time we did a family St.Loius trip she was with us.  We talk about her a lot and the kids always enjoy hearing us tell stories...Mimi would have liked this, or Mimi would have done that.  We miss her SO much, everyday but we know she is always smiling and watching over us.

Elizabeth is 15!!

  2) HOW OLD ARE YOU? 15 3) WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? pink 4) WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Parker, Isabella & Julianna 5) WHAT DO YOU WAN...